Bahraini revolution represents clear majority: Kevin Barrett

A few days ago demonstrators in Bahrain marked a year since Saudi Arabian forces entered their country to help the al Khalifeh regime to crush the peaceful protests.

It’s been a year since the rulers destroyed Pearl Square, the focal point of protests. Now people call it Martyrs Square and they’re still turning out calling for an end to oppression.

With the evolution of the revolution, people’s demands have radicalized. They were calling for reforms within the ruling monarchy, but as the Saudi-backed brutal crackdown continues, people are asking for the fall of the regime.

Bahraini revolution represents clear majority: Kevin Barrett

3-20-2012 presstv.com

It has been one year since Saudi Arabian forces entered Bahrain to rescue the dictatorial Bahraini regime against a people’s popular revolution for democracy.

Press TV has interviewed Dr. Kevin Barrett, author & Islamic Studies expert from Wisconsin about the relationships between the Al-Khalifa regime, Saudi Arabia and the US and how these external partners have influenced the popular revolution in Bahrain.

He also discusses the muted way which the UN as well as other human rights organizations are responding to the human rights violations being carried out by the Bahraini rulers against the people.

What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Do the people of Bahrain have any other option but to keep up these peaceful protests? In other words, what do they need to do, do you think, to have reforms or to have demands of theirs met?

Dr. Barrett: Well, the people of Bahrain are going to need a lot of patience because they’re unfortunately not being helped out by the West and the usual suspects who run around the world trumpeting their human rights concerns.

Here in Bahrain we have a genuine non-violent democracy movement. It’s not clouded by issues of civil war; outside provocateurs… It is a movement that represents clearly the majority of the Bahraini people.

In Syria by contrast, polls taken by the Qatar government have showed that more than 55 percent of the Syrian people actually support their government. It’s a much more complex situation there; but in Bahrain it’s a straight forward peaceful pro-democracy movement that’s being brutally repressed and has been now for more than a year.

Press TV: Let’s look at the international response to the situation in Bahrain. One question is, could the Bahraini regime have survived this without the support that it got from Saudi Arabia and without also the political and diplomatic support that it got from the US as well? In other words, how have these countries influenced the course of the revolution in Bahrain?

Dr. Barrett: Well, the Saudis actually invaded Bahrain and put down the popular democracy movement last year. Without that invasion things might have continued building and the regime would not have been able to survive.

And again, this is a case of just rank hypocrisy. Imagine what would happen if let’s say Iran were to send its forces into Syria to protect the government. Americans and their lackeys around the world would be screaming from the rooftops.

But here, the Saudi regime, which is a totally dictatorial monarchy, invaded a neighboring country to put down these peaceful pro-democracy protests… and did so successfully.

And of course the US, which has its Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain and which uses the Saudi dynasty to maintain corporate bankster control of the world dollar and oil system, didn’t’t mind at all.

So I think it’s clear that the Americans and the Saudis are behind this propping up of a regime whose days are clearly numbered.

Press TV: Let’s look at how the US is leading international efforts at the UN has been reacting to these revolutions. We saw for instance in the case of Libya or now in the case of Syria when it (the US) is not in favor of the rulers, it does call for military intervention; it does call for even equipping the opposition with arms.

Or as in the case of Yemen we saw the US and Saudi Arabia teaming up and calling for a political solution and even giving immunity from prosecution to the Yemeni ruler.

What kind of a solution do you think they’re looking for in the case of Bahrain? Do you think that they’re going to ask the Bahraini rulers to forego some of their powers?

Dr. Barrett: It’s possible that they would be pushing some kind of compromise on the Bahraini rulers. I think the US and its allies are still trying to maintain this neo-imperial control of the Middle East in order to maintain their dollar-oil hegemony over the world.

And to do that they have tried to guide these Arab revolutions toward something other than real democracy because… when you really get down to it, in the region if there were real democracy the US Empire and its Zionists accomplices would be voted right out of the region. So they can’t allow the region to generally democratize.

So what they’re trying to do is destabilize certain areas – Libya and Syria have been the victims of this kind of destabilization. And then to try to stabilize others that perhaps really need to be changed.

I think the Persian Gulf oil sheikhdoms are the places that really need democratization more than any other part of the Middle East because they’re the oil hub that really has the power by way of this control of oil supplies by a very small population that’s being propped up by the Western bankers and imperial governors.

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